Crave Archives - Mirrored Media

Now that the sun has set on yet another weird and wondrous SDCC, let us take stock of our collective silliness, our serious dedication to providing the the best Con coverage, and our continued efforts to throw the most exciting boat parties this side of land lovin’ geekdom.

Crave teamed up with Alienware and Mirrored Media to present an exciting array of performances, cosplay fun, and VIP swagger on the decks of the historic USS Midway. The event was led by actor-songstress, and star of Orange Is The New Black, Taryn Manning, who graciously hosted the evening, awesomely embodying the combination of mild fangirl and masterful hypeman.

Our Escape plans began to really take shape as our first band, Bay Area-based Cathedrals took the stage. Like a sonorous siren of the sea, lead singer Brodie Jenkin’s especially sultry vocals floated over Johnny Hwin’s soulful instrumentation, providing a warm, melodic groove that proved the perfect accompaniment for the slowly darkening skies.

Next up was one of L.A.’s finest, Bad Suns, whose combination of wistful lyricism and alt-pop-punk explosiveness brought some much needed adrenaline, and set the stage for some raucous drinking and dancing. Running through crowd favorites like “Salt” and “Cardiac Arrest,” the boys turned up the emotional intensity just in time for some impromptu fireworks across the harbor.

Finally, nighttime festivities took an especially powerful turn as Cold War Kids took to the stage and played an awesomely extended set that featured hits from across the group’s five albums. Darkness had dawned, the crowd was packed with fans armed with glowing batons, and nearly everyone lost their shit as the boys from Long Beach belted “First,” the single from their most recent album, “Hold My Home.”

Read the whole article above and check out all the photos at CraveOnline. See you next year!

Mirrored Media, leader in experiential marketing and music strategy, will be producing some of Comic-Con’s largest and most exciting events this year. Clients include CraveOnline, the largest online male lifestyle publisher, and 20th Century Fox.

Mirrored Media partnered once again with CraveOnline to produce one of the most highly anticipated events at Comic-Con, Crave Escape, aboard San Diego’s USS Midway. Over 2,000 fans will gather to enjoy exclusive performances by Cold War Kids, Bad Suns and Cathedrals; as well as a Best of Gaming Cosplay Fashion Show. The evening will be hosted by OITNB actress, Taryn Manning.

Additionally, Mirrored Media was tapped by 20th Century Fox to produce a daytime event, which features 47 agents hitting the streets of downtown San Diego for the upcoming release of Hitman: Agent 47, an adaptation of the popular video game franchise.

“We are so excited to bring CraveOnline back after last year’s huge success, as well as add new amazing partners to this year’s Comic-Con. It’s an incredible opportunity to have our team’s vision come to life in such a creative and fun way,” said Justin Lefkovitch, CEO and Founder of Mirrored Media. “Our goal is to create a unique experience not only for fans and our clients, but also for the talent involved.”

Mirrored Media’s big Comic-Con weekend comes on the heels of being included in Event Markerter’s coveted 2015 IT LIST, as one of the top experiential marketing agencies.

The wild musical marathon of SxSW 2015 saved the best for last, as CraveOnline’s showcase on Saturday proved to be a blowout of cinematically exhilarating proportions. The event drew over 3,200 guests in the doors. With a line stacked up the rain-soaked street long before doors even opened, the crowds would soon flood 5th avenue as they struggled for space to catch the wild dynamics of Action Bronson, Doomtree, Smallpools, Irontom and The Black Cadillacs at the Vulcan Gas Company. Unexpected thrills happened like Action Bronson, at the end of his set, simply walked off the stage and out the front door creating a mob experience for fans and festival goers who didn’t make it into the event to see his set. The event was featured as one of the top unofficial day parties on Do512. To see the behind the scenes interview with Action Bronsons interview click here

Justin Lefkovitch, founder of Mirrored Media, takes a fresh approach on connecting influential brands with some of the most talked about names in music, all while creating the most exclusive celebrity-filled parties.
Some of Mirrored Media‘s past events include the Mophie Lounge at Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful festival, Bacardi at Lollapalooza and Crave Online/TNT’sConquer The Con bash at Comic-Con.

Ever wonder what goes into putting together some of the most exclusive A-list events? We caught up with Justin at the world’s biggest pop-culture event to see how he executes what celebrities, like Nina Dobrev, can only dream of.

Starpulse: Describe the environment of the party and what you wanted to achieve for Comic Con go’ers and VIPs. What was your vision?

Justin Lefkovitch: Working as the experiential agency for Evolve Media, our goal was to create an experience around Comic-Con that gave guests the opportunity to interact with CraveOnline, as well as its event partners. Crave’s title partner was TNT with their new action-packed drama series with Michael Bay, The Last Ship. Based on the shows plot, which takes place on a United States Naval destroyer in the midst of a global pandemic, the event was held on the USS Midway, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier docked in downtown San Diego. Working alongside CraveOnline’s creative team, our vision was to create an experience which fully immersed guests into the world of the The Last Ship. Lucky guests were invited to survive the outbreak aboard the USS Midway. Arriving at the ship, guests were taken through a fully branded entryway, where they were then guided through a similarly themed Science Lab, which prominently displayed footage from the show itself. In the event that “survivors” would have to defend the ship against hostiles, guests were given the opportunity to walk through a laser maze where they could practice their shooting skills and compete against their fellow survivors. On the main flight deck, guests had the opportunity to explore real jets, helicopters, take a photo at the branded photo booth and pursue the Loot Lounge for specialty cocktails. VIP’s and celebrity guests experienced their own bars, lounge, and raised platform on the main deck. Survivors celebrated the evening with a live DJ performance by Grimes, and a performance by MGMT culminating in a large display of fire works off of the bow of the ship.

SP: How long did preparations take?

JL: Preparations for the event started several months ago when we began designing the overview of the event, the use of the ship, as well as all necessary technical components and creative assets. Once on-site, it took two days to load in and set up all of the experimental components. As you can imagine, this was much more difficult and time consuming on an aircraft carrier as we were extremely limited in regard to load-in procedures, which required utilizing the bomb and plane elevators, as well as the fact that the museum was open to guests throughout the day during our load-in and build out.

SP: Why did you choose MGMT to perform?

JL: Mirrored Media worked with our partners Brick + Mortar, as well as with CraveOnline to select the right artists for the Comic-Con crowd, as well as the right artists for the vibe of the event. MGMT is a Grammy nominated rock band with music that resonates within the Comic-Con community. We were honored to have them on-board for what was an amazing performance accompanied by a stunning display of pyrotechnics.

SP: What was the attendee count?

JL: The event was a private ‘invite-only’ experience for Crave and its partners. Members of the public were given the opportunity to win passes via CraveOnline, a twitter based scavenger hunt and through some engagements with Crave’s other brand partners. The event welcomed around 2k attendees on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

To get more information on Justin and Mirrored Media check out www.MirroredMedia.com